


Can I Date Adam Parrish?

by brightblackholes



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: M/M, because i have no idea what the names of other aglionby boys are, but ronan punches him before it gets normal kavinsky level, did i do so anyway? yes, in which Ronan is not the only person to have a crush on Adam, kavinsky is his usual gross self, lackluster swearing because I never swear in real life, takes place throughout the entire series, was it smart to use two people from the vancouver crowd? maybe not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 07:22:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10657695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightblackholes/pseuds/brightblackholes
Summary: Ronan understands why someone would want to ask Adam for his number or take him on a date.  What he doesn't understand is why everyone feels the need to askhimif they can.





	Can I Date Adam Parrish?

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a Hernst fic, [Why do you keep asking me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7318180) by [ShipThatLadies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipThatLadies), which was based on a prompt from tumblr. The thought of scared teenagers asking Ronan about dating Adam was personally amusing to me, so I decided to write it.

**i.**

The first time it happens, Ronan doesn’t realize what’s occurring. He doesn’t expect it: this girl Gansey and Adam have latched onto, Blue Sargent, doesn’t seem like the kind of person to ask permission to do anything. She also doesn’t seem to like him much, and the feeling is mutual. She’s too much of a spitfire, too willing to fight, too much like him, too much of a girl for his friends to resist looking at her in That Way, the way Ronan would sometimes look at boys if he were to let himself be obvious.

When she approaches him alone, he’s immediately suspicious.

“What do you want?” he asks, voice bored but sharp as knives.

“I want to talk to you,” she replies, voice equally as bored and equally as sharp.

“What the fuck do you have to talk to me about?”

“Adam,” she says, her jaw set. Ronan relishes in the way he’s started to make her frustrated.

“What about Parrish?” he asks. Adam Parrish is a broad subject, and Ronan takes pride in knowing that he is far more of an expert than she is. No matter how long she ends up sticking around, Ronan will always have the advantage of being there first.

“We’re...casually dating now, and--”

“Why the pause?” he cuts in. She glares at him.

“Because we haven’t officially called it that. Although that’s what it is “

Ronan absorbs this information and her wording: _casually dating_. He tries to imagine a world in which he could _casually date_ , meeting up with someone for some sort of vaguely romantic activity, then moving on and not giving it much thought until the next one. Two human beings who exist separately and don’t even acknowledge that they’re something special to each other, because they aren’t yet. Not boyfriend and girlfriend, not partners, not lovers, just two people who are casually dating.

He can’t picture it. With Ronan, it will always be all or nothing. He’s built off of extremes: the middle ground is always too close to crumbling beneath him to stay there for long.

“Yes?” he says when he realizes that she’s still sitting there.

“This might change the dynamic here a bit.”

Ronan snorts. She glares some more.

“That all you wanted to say?”

“I was going to--What’s the point?” she says, throwing her hands in the air. “There’s your heads up. Adam and I are casually dating, keep your complaining to yourself.” 

Ronan watches her stomp away with her shoulders hunched to her ears, still unsure as to why she felt the need to tell him she and Adam were officially _casually dating_ , as if he couldn’t figure it out on his own.

Still, a masochistic part of Ronan is glad she did. He knows that Adam has dated before, has had at least one girlfriend, but Adam is very private about his relationships. He wasn’t aware that Adam was the kind of person to _casually date_ , but that just shows how little he knows about Adam’s dating life.

It’s casual, but it’s still dating. Ronan heaves a sigh and slips on his headphones, letting blaring electronic music fill his ears as he stares absently at the ceiling.

**ii.**

The second time it happens, it’s Tad Carruthers, of all people, and Ronan feels like he’s stepped into the Twilight Zone, because he was pretty sure that Carruthers was all about girls. Pretty girls with money, specifically.

“Lynch, can I have a word?” he asks on one of the few days Ronan actually shows up for school, and Ronan thinks it quite unfortunate that Carruthers decided to corner him by his locker, because Ronan is ready to get in a fight and bail, and Carruthers is always an appealing target.

“Not if you don’t want a black eye,” he says, throwing random papers into his backpack to give him hands something to do.

It’s been a bad day. He doesn’t need one of the most annoying Aglionby boys that he knows to be talking at him right now.

“It’s about Parrish.”

This piques his curiosity slightly, but he’s still is on fight-or-flight mode and grinds out “Ask Gansey. Or, better yet, just ask Parrish yourself.”

“No, it needs to be you,” Carruthers says, and he sounds nervous. The fire flares inside Ronan slightly, because there isn’t much about Adam that Gansey also couldn’t answer, and there’s even less that Carruthers would avoid asking Adam directly.

Ronan tells himself that Carruthers is too oblivious to have figured out what happens to Adam when he’s at home and too rude to not just confront Adam about it himself, probably in public, but he’s ready to threaten him into submission anyway.

“Spit it the fuck out Carruthers, I don’t have all day.” Ronan makes his voice sound as hostile as he can, and feels satisfaction bloom is his chest when the other boy wipes his palms on his pants.

“Right. Um. I was just wondering--is Parrish--can I--”

Ronan raises an unimpressed eyebrow. Carruthers takes a deep breath that shudders on the way in.

“Is Parrish...available?” he asks. Ronan stares at him with the feeling that he misunderstood something.

“Like, is he single?” Carruthers specifies, and Ronan keeps staring. The other boy fidgets some more, eyes skating around the emptying hallway.

“I want to ask him out, but I wanted to be sure that he-- and then that you’re okay with it, and--”

“The fuck you asking me for?” Ronan interrupts. Carruthers opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it again.

“Well, it’s just that--I just--”

“Lynch!” a voice calls, and Ronan immediately turns towards Adam, coming down the hallway towards them.

“I’d better get to class,” Carruthers says, and practically sprints in the opposite direction.

“What was that about?” Adam asks, frowning after him.

“I don’t know. fucking Aglionby boys,” he says truthfully. Adam snorts.

“You’re an Aglionby boy, too.” He notices the backpack in Ronan’s hand. “Are you ditching again? We’re doing a lab in chemistry and you’re going to leave me me at the mercy of all the kids who ask me to be their partner because they know I’ll do the work for them in order to save my own grade.”

“Stop caring so much and they’ll stop taking advantage of you,” he says.

“Show up every once in awhile to be my lab partner and they won’t even try,” Adam replies, and it sounds like a challenge. Ronan looks down at his backpack and knows that Adam is going to bully him into doing his part of the lab if he agrees to go, but it also means Adam will get more sleep at night.

“You’re doing the write-up. I’m only coming to blow shit up and because you’ll owe me.”

Adam smirks. “I’ve been helping you pass your classes since we became friends. You’re going to have to do more than show up to one lab in order to make it up to me.”

Ronan sighs angrily and schools his expression into something annoyed, but spending time with Adam and probably setting something on fire doesn’t sound like a horrible idea.

Later that night, Noah looks at him and asks if anything interesting happened that day.

“Tad Carruthers asked me if he could date Adam. Hell if I know why.”

Noah laughs, and laughs, and laughs.

**iii.**

It’s rare to catch Kavinsky without his usual rat pack trailing him, but it’s been happening more and more often recently. Ronan will be out for a drive, chasing his insomnia away, and suddenly, there Kavinsky will be, alone, tailing him but not pulling up to start a race. Usually, Ronan speeds ahead and leaves him in the dust, but tonight he pulls into a field and parks, and Kavinsky follows. He’s wearing his sunglasses even though it’s night, like the asshole he is.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Kavinsky says, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag.

“The fuck do you want, Kavinsky?”

He shrugs. “Oh, you know,” he says, all faux nonchalance.

“Fucking waste of my time,” he growls, reaching for the door handle to drive away, but Kavinsky takes a step forward.

“Who is worth your time, Lynch? Dick? It’s disgusting how he’s got you under his thumb. Of course, rumor was he tried to get Trailer Trash as a bedwarmer, too, after his old man beat on him, but--”

“Leave Parrish out of it,” Ronan snarls, mind racing with how Kavinsky could know that piece of information.

Kavinsky laughs: an ugly, grating sound.

“Are you jealous? Do you want Parrish for yourself? And I thought your boner was for Dick!”

Kavinsky keeps laughing, and Ronan clenches his fists. He doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of getting riled up enough for violence.

“Does Trailer Trash even swing that way? Hey, do you think he’d blow me if I ask nicely? I could get him high first--”

Ronan lunges, slamming Kavinsky against the side of his car with a hand at his throat.

“Touch him and I’ll kill you,” he growls, low and menacing. Kavinsky laughs again.

“You’ve got it bad, Lynch. Don’t try to deny it; I’m in your head, man! I know you!” He presses his hips up against Ronan’s, who shoves him, then punches him in the face before stalking back to his car.

“So does that mean I can’t ask Parrish to be my cuddle buddy?” Kavinsky calls after him. Ronan ignores him, but he drives past Boyd’s anyway, if only because seeing the familiar mismatched car in the lot puts his mind at ease.

**iv.**

Ronan studiously avoids everyone at Aglionby as much as he possibly can. He’s not like Gansey: he can’t smile at everyone and have allies everywhere and spend his time playing nice with people who couldn't care less about him for more than a few seconds before it’s utterly exhausting and not worth the effort. For that reason, people tend to avoid Ronan, and he’s perfectly content to keep it that way. He rarely gets approached by other classmates: except for that time when Carruthers asked to date Adam, a few questions from the more-annoying students during Latin, and some inquiries as to Gansey’s whereabouts by his adoring fans, no one has talked to Ronan without him initiating the conversation since he got the reputation of being sharp and dangerous.

When he arrives at school for the first time one week and one of the Vancouver crowd approaches him, he immediately get suspicious.

The boy, who’s name is Koh according to a dusty part of Ronan’s brain that actually pays attention to his classmates’ identities, doesn’t look like he wants to be approaching Ronan, but he doesn’t look scared either. Determination is etched into his face, and Ronan doesn’t like it.

“Hello Lynch,” he says, amicably enough, and then has the audacity to sit down next to him. Thankfully, he doesn’t wait for Ronan to respond and gets right to talking.

“I was wondering if I could ask Adam on a date.”

“Parrish?” he asks, knowing full well that yes Koh means Adam Parrish but also hoping somehow that there’s another Adam people have decided to ask his permission to date.

It makes sense that over the past year people have started to notice that Adam is beautiful in a strange, heart-fluttering way, and that his sarcastic humor and outwardly quiet demeanor are attractive. Ronan knows he can’t possibly be the only one to see how the afternoon sunlight dusts across his cheeks as he sits in biology, long fingers fiddling with his pen and eyes trained on the teacher during lectures despite already knowing everything. He can’t be the only one enchanted by the quiet huff he makes when someone actually says something semi-amusing during class, can’t be the only one to be drawn to the subtle power and scent of trees that he carries with him since becoming Cabeswater’s magician.

“Yes, Adam Parrish,” Koh says, and Ronan blinks at him slowly.

“Isn’t that a question for him?” he asks.

“Ultimately, yes,” Koh says, voice still level, and Ronan misses the way that Carruthers voice was cracking when he asked Ronan the same question those months ago. “I just wanted to be sure it was okay with you, first.”

Ronan narrows his eyes.

“It’s not my fucking decision who Parrish does and does not date. It’s his, and his alone. Don’t fucking forget that. Now get the fuck away from me.”

Koh opens his mouth to speak, then seems to think better of it and nods once.

“Thanks for your time,” he says as he stands, and Ronan is reminded about how much he hates politicians and fake politeness.

Later, Ronan sees Koh approach Adam on his way to where Ronan is leaning against the BMW. He can’t make out their words, and Adam has his back to him so he can’t see anything past the subtle tenseness that always appears in his shoulders when talking to someone who’s intentions he is unsure of. It unnerves him to no end.

A selfish part of Ronan hopes that Adam will say no. He knows that Adam is aware of his feelings now, has stopped trying to hide them from him, and he has been letting himself hope that the lingering glances and small smiles mean maybe, just maybe, Adam feels something similar.

Another part of Ronan, one that wants all of his friends to be happy no matter what cost, knows that Adam could do a lot worse than Koh, and knows that Koh doesn’t have the cocktail of unhealthy mental shit that Ronan has or an ability that could kill anyone near him in his sleep.

When the conversation ends and Adam walks over, Ronan can see the quiet acceptance on Koh’s face before he turns to join his friends. It is not the face of someone who has just gotten a date, and Ronan feels something unclench in his stomach that he didn’t know was getting twisted.

“What was that about?” Ronan asks once Adam is close enough. Adam looks over his shoulder at where the Vancouver crowd had been standing, and Ronan can see an emotion pass over his face that he’s not sure how to name.

“Nothing important.” When Adam turns back around to face him, Ronan believes him.

**v.**

It is highly unlikely that anyone who knows Ronan’s name would approach him, but it is even more unlikely that a complete stranger would do so. He’s used to people not making eye contact with him in public spaces, and he’s used to waitstaff at places like Nino’s and forced meals with Declan talking directly to whoever is with him without sparing him a glance.

One day, it’s just Adam and Ronan at Nino’s. Gansey and Blue are off mooning over each other and Noah isn’t staying present long enough to go anywhere, but Adam doesn’t have work and Ronan doesn’t want to stay at Monmouth alone or get groceries to make dinner at the Barnes. There’s a new waitress there, and when Adam sends Ronan up to the counter to get another pitcher of iced tea, she looks at Ronan and smiles.

“You’re friend over there is pretty cute,” she says, and the contentment that had been filling Ronan from having time with Adam disappears.

He grunts, because he doesn’t lie but he also doesn’t want to spill his feelings to her.

“Is he… seeing anyone?” she asks, and when she says _anyone_ it sounds like _you_. He hates that he can’t tell her the answer he wants.

“No,” he says, and equally hopes and fears that it sounds more like _not yet_.

“Okay,” she smiles. “Do you think I can ask him for his number, then?”

Ronan wishes he could tell her no, but there’s no reason to, so he growls “If you want,” and returns to the table with the iced tea.

When the waitress hands them the check at the end, Ronan is too busy gnawing on his bracelets to fight Adam for it. Adam’s shoe is touching his under the table, like it has been since he stretched out in the middle of the meal. It feels close enough to a win that he can pretend he’s not listening when the waitress asks Adam small-talk questions in preparation for getting his contact information.

Adam glances at him and Ronan knows that his not-listening is not working.

Adam rejects her politely, telling her that he doesn’t have a phone, although that didn’t stop him when he was interested in Blue. Ronan refrains from giving the waitress a triumphant look. He can feel the small pressure of Adam’s shoe on his burn into his bones.

Adam covers the entire bill instead of having them split it, and Ronan lets him because it makes it feel kind of like a date and because he doesn’t want to fight. He knows he’ll dream something that night to make up for it. Something small that Adam will accept.

The next time they go to Nino’s alone, the waitress is there again, and Adam doesn’t spare her more than his order and a polite smile. Ronan tries not to feel triumphant, because they’re still not dating and he didn’t win anything just because she lost, but then Adam laughs at something he says and it feels a lot like winning, anyway.

**vi.**

Henry Cheng is loud and obnoxious and very obsessed with Madonna. His hair defies gravity. Ronan finds him extremely annoying, and not just because Gansey and Blue both adore him.

“Ronan, my man,” Henry says as he sits down next to him at Monmouth, and Ronan doesn’t think anyone has ever had the nerve to call him _my man_ before. “How are you this glorious evening?”

“Not in the mood, Cheng,” he replies and pointedly goes back to nursing his beer and staring straight ahead. In reality, he’s watching Adam study out of the corner of his eye, the last glimmers of sunlight streaming through Monmouth’s windows outlining him in a soft gold that makes him seem even more ethereal than usual.

“Unfortunately, this can’t wait, since life is fragile and nothing is guaranteed.” Henry beams at him and Ronan wants to punch him.

“Can I ask Adam out?” he says. Ronan’s urge for violence increases. He glances at where Adam is curved over his textbook, an earbud in his functioning ear, blocking out their conversation and distracting from any of Cabeswater’s whispers.

“Why?” Ronan replies. Henry shrugs.

“Because, full honesty, he’s really hot, and I would like to get to know him better.”

A twinge of annoyance runs through Ronan at the validity of Henry’s reasons.

“Why are you asking me? Why does everyone fucking ask me?” he says instead. Henry shrugs.

“Because Gansey is too oblivious to have any inkling of if Adam even likes boys and you’re scary enough that people want your permission to date someone you’re so close with, especially with all the sexual tension there?” Henry suggests. Ronan glares at him and Henry holds up his hands in a pacifying gesture.

“I don’t fucking care. Ask him if you want,” he snarls, then storms to his room simply because he doesn’t want to watch _yet another person_ ask Adam out.

Gansey intercepts him before he can reach his door and furrows his brow at Ronan’s expression.

“Henry fucking Cheng just asked me if he can date Parrish. Why the fuck does everyone keep asking me if they can date Parrish?” he says. Gansey takes a breath, frowns, and tilts his head like a confused puppy instead of speaking. Noah pulls off that look better, but the resemblance is still uncanny.

“Actually, I was wondering--”

“You have Blue! I swear to God Gansey if you fucking ask me about fucking Parrish--”

“Don’t worry!” he says hastily. “I don’t want to date Adam, and I wouldn’t ask you if I did!”

“Good,” Ronan snarls, then stalks into his room and slams the door shut behind him.

**vii.**

Graduation at Aglionby is something Ronan doesn’t necessarily want to attend, but wouldn’t miss for the world. He picks up Blue on the way there, and they sit side by side on the bleachers that have been pulled out onto the football field so graduation can happen out in the Virginia spring. Ronan sees Gansey’s parents across the field and nods at them when they locks eyes. Blue smiles and waves and their faces brighten like the sun. The Ganseys took an immediate liking to Blue once they had been introduced, and she likes them well enough, although Ronan doesn’t know if they’ve talked politics together yet.

Adam’s parents are not there. He didn’t expect them to be, and it’s probably for the best.

Adam stayed up for half of the previous night working on his Valedictorian speech, reciting it over and over until Ronan had it memorized as well. When he says it to the student body, it starts with a slightly shaky voice. Adam has never liked being the complete center of attention. He told Ronan once, in the early morning after he had accidentally brought back a dream flower that changed color based on Opal’s mood and before Adam had settled in to sleep for the night, that it's because he always feels like people can see where he comes from and how he doesn’t belong. Ronan had reassured him multiple times that he definitely belongs on that stage today, and the applause (including whoops and hollers from Blue and Ronan) that he receives afterwards prove it. Despite how far away they are, Ronan can see Adam’s personal smile. It’s soft in a way that reminds Ronan of fireflies glittering at dusk.

They’re not supposed to clap during the actual receptions of the diplomas in order to avoid having the ceremony drag on, but Blue shouts when Henry receives his so Ronan feels obliged to at least politely clap, then they both scream for Gansey, and then Ronan stands and shouts for Adam while Blue supports. They get more than a few glares from stuffy, rich people who are there to see their stuffy, arrogant sons graduate. Ronan thrives off of it, and one look at Blue shows that she does, too. When the graduates throw their hats up at the end, they are the two cheering the loudest.

Afterwards, Blue basically tackles Gansey, then Adam, then Henry. Ronan bumps shoulders with Adam once there’s a semi-quiet minute after a few congratulations from fellow graduates and parents impressed by his speech. Adam deflates a bit, tired but content.

“You did good, Adam,” Ronan says, and Adam leans into him, eyes looking full. Ronan wonders if he’s going to start crying and what he’s supposed to do if he does, but for now he’s happy to just enjoy having Adam this close. In three months, he’ll be a world away.

“Hey Adam?” a voice Ronan doesn’t recognize asks, and the moment is shattered by a short boy with freckles. He’s not in graduation robes, but Ronan thinks he might recognize him from the halls of Aglionby before he dropped out, possibly one of Matthew’s classmates.

“Oh, hey Peter,” Adam replies.

“Congratulations on graduating. And your speech! It was really good. Not boring, like some of the other ones,” he says, and Ronan sighs heavily through his nose. The other boy finally seems to notice him and his eyes widen. Ronan is proud that he can still make small children afraid on sight.

“Oh, this is Ronan,” Adam says, and the other boy nods.

“Matthew’s brother,” he says. There is a moment where Ronan doesn’t respond even though he’s expected to before the boy continues.

“Anyway, Adam, I was wondering if maybe we could get together some time during the summer, you know, since you’ll be leaving for college. As long as it’s okay with everyone!” he hastily amends at Ronan’s expression. “I mean, is it okay? With you, Ronan?”

Ronan smiles a sharp smile, leans over, and kisses Adam right on the mouth before he can blow up at the kid for asking someone else’s permission to hang out with him, as amusing as that would have been.

“Oh,” Peter says quietly, then scampers off when Ronan and Adam separate and Ronan makes eye contact again.

“You didn’t have to scare him away,” Adam complains softly. “That was my job.”

“I know, but people have been asking permission to date you for over a year and it’s been annoying as fuck. This was the first time I could actually respond like that.”

Adam laughs, and Ronan considers bottling that sound in a dream to always keep with him.

“You won’t have to deal with that anymore. I’m pretty sure people know we’re together now, and I’ll make it more obvious in the future.”

Ronan grunts, because it was never Adam’s fault that people bothered Ronan like this, but he can’t quite stop the smile from growing on his face at the thought of Adam proudly showing everyone that yes, he is dating Ronan Lynch, and yes, they are happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Should I have given this a day to stew before I reviewed it again and posted it? Probably. But I am an adult who makes my own bad decisions, so here we are. Kudos and comments are always appreciated, and thank you for reading! I hope you have a good day.


End file.
